THE CARTERTON-OTAKI TRAIN

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2727, 23 March 1916, Page 7

THE CARTERTON-OTAKI TRAIN

A TRAVELLER'S COMPLAINT,

Sir,—lf you will kindly give publicity to the'following, written by me purely as a warning to the travelling public, I shall be greatly obliged. From Carterton to. Otaki .by rail, that is, by New Zealand State-managed railways, There is a legend in Carterton that a train leaves that station daily at 11.6 a.m. for north, and. it is possible that it does actually do so once in a blue moon, but as a solid fact the train is most regular in irregularity, and.gets away—usually ! overcrowded and late. On arrival at Woodville no one seems in any way interested in the passengere,_ but after several inquiries from men in uniform, who may bo platform porters of shunters, or shed hands, one is at last told that there is time for a cup of tea, but not for luncheon. One gets tea and a sandwich, and hurries' to the ladies in the train. The tea is tepid, and has been made with water which no doubt had .boiled some time antecedent to the period of infusion, and the sandwich is anything but nice. Then we sat in the train for twenty minutes, and could easily have had luncheon. No one knew when wo would get away, or why we wore detained. But one hopes for better things at a big station liko Palmcrston. The car we rode in was absolutely filthv —not dirty only, but shockingly dirty—and the lavatory not fit to bath a. pup in. 1 One of the wheels of our particular oar had boon skidded, and was what railway men call "half a crown short," meaning that the surface of the wheel has'a Hat space and causes a constant sharp hammering and thud as it goes round. No car with a skidded wheel should bo allowed to continue its. journey on a passenger train. The guard,' when spoken to, was quite calm, saying, "Yes, it's the back wheel, and pretty ba<l, too.", At Ashhurst we enjoyed a period of most welcome quiet "and rest, lasting about lo minutes, and then on we sped at racing speed towards Palmerston. "What wc waited for at Ashhurst is a railway •secret, shrouded in. profound mystery. On arrival at the distant signal outside Palmerston, we came to a standstill, and were kept there for exactly thirty minutes. Several of'the soldiers got out and bought fruit m tho shops opposite, to our position. 1 asked a legal gentleman in the next ear whether he could hazard a'guess nfc why we worn waitins time, and ho just smiled, Baying, "This is the regular roiitiuo. We shall stand here until the Now Ply-mouth-Wellington express pusses us and ' get* to the platform." As soon as we got to the platform, 111 the rear of tho express, wc were told to hurry up—"All aboard for Wellington"—and so we line! to scramble on board without a minute, to see to the hi"gage. In tho dining-car on the train wo at last got not only prompt and cheerful attention, but good food. Tho next item of interest was that none o the luggago from tho Wairarapa had been transhipped, and we landed in Otaki with iust what; wo had m tho carriage. Our home is six miles from Otaki station, and we had to wait "for the late train to see whether our luggairo had arrived or nnfc. It came all ri-'lit—not booked or looked after in aiiy wnv, but being plainly addressed, was put out mi the Otaki station, and we got homo hours later than necessary, and full of admiration for the State administration of our railways.

I forgot to slate that one of our party was a very old and delicate lady. We were told at Palmorstoli that it was impossible to catch the Wellington train. Wo overcame the difficulty, however, bv commandeering' an ordinary platform luggage "burrow. On this ivo deposited the invalid lady and her and ran them triumphantly to Lhc tram for Wellington. This happened about a fortnight ago. Since then 1 heard of another case of the Wairarapa train being held up outside flic station nt Palmerston, and no steps being taken to tranship luggage. T say that iI is.absolutely absurd to

tbi?l .i better nrranppment railnot bs mads for the comfort and safety

of the public and their luggage at Palmcrston. Whoeyer is responsible for the existing state of affairs -will, I hopo —if you -vvill kindly, insert this somewhiit lengthy epistle —be called upon by our tlirce-tli'ousand-poivnd General MaliPKor to please explain.—l am, etc., K.C.